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A new technique which slashes the time taken to diagnose microbial infections from days to minutes could help save lives and open up a new front in the battle against antibiotic resistance, researchers say. Engineers and clinicians from the UK and China are behind the breakthrough system, called Autoenricher.

The natural sands of beaches along the Firth of Forth are being mixed with significant amounts of human-made materials like bricks, concrete, glass and industrial waste, new research has revealed. A detailed survey of six beaches led by a team from the University of Glasgow has found that these mineral-based materials, known as anthropogenic geomaterials, now make up far more of the beach surface than previously realised.

Analysis of ancient DNA has confirmed that certain human herpesviruses became part of the human genome thousands of years ago, in a study involving a UCL researcher. For the first time, scientists have reconstructed ancient genomes of Human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B (HHV-6A/B) from archaeological human remains more than two millennia old.

University of Manchester researchers have shown that analysis of fluid flushed through a fallopian tube holds promise for providing insights into molecular changes linked to early ovarian cancer development. The analysis - featured in the journal Clinical and translational medicine - revealed molecular signals that in one case prompted re-examination of archived fallopian tube tissue and led to the retrospective identification of a pre-invasive or very early cancerous lesion.

New study finds that stopping weight-loss drugs is linked to faster regain than ending diet programmes People tend to regain weight rapidly after stopping weight-loss drugs - and faster than after ending behavioural weight loss programmes - according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis from researchers in Oxford's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences , published in The BMJ today.

Yeast left over from brewing beer can be transformed into edible 'scaffolds' for cultivated meat - sometimes known as lab-grown meat - which could offer a more sustainable, cost-effective alternative to current methods, according to a new study from UCL researchers. 'Nose to tail' eating, which emphasises the use of the whole animal, has long been an ethos of sustainability-conscious chefs and diners.

A major review of prior research has found no evidence that menopause hormone therapy either increases or decreases dementia risk in post-menopausal women, in a new study led by UCL researchers. The findings, commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity , add much-needed clarity to a hotly-debated topic, and reinforce current clinical guidance that menopause hormone therapy, also called hormone replacement therapy or HRT, should be guided by perceived benefits and risks and not for dementia prevention.

The urgency of the climate crisis demands rapid innovation. Manchester researchers are using AI to assess climate remediation techniques, generating evidence faster to accelerate the development of promising technologies. Can we find ways to lock away carbon at the scale needed to fight climate change? There are lots of promising ideas which can make significant impacts at scale, such as ocean fertilisation, ocean alkalinity enhancement, enhanced rock weathering with croplands - but field trials at scale are slow, expensive and come with potential environmental risks.

A breakthrough development in nanofabrication could help support the development of new wireless, flexible, high-performance transparent electronic devices. Researchers from the University of Glasgow's James Watt School of Engineering have developed a new method of interfacial imprinting ultra-thin nanowires onto bendable, transparent polymeric substrates.

Research examining ancient sewer drain sediment suggests the Roman soldiers garrisoned at the fort of Vindolanda suffered with intestinal worms and diarrhoea - despite their toilets, baths and drinking water system. These chronic infections likely weakened soldiers, reducing fitness for duty. Helminths alone can cause nausea, cramping and diarrhoea.

Researchers have developed the first scientifically validated 'personality test' framework for popular AI chatbots, and have shown that chatbots not only mimic human personality traits, but their 'personality' can be reliably tested and precisely shaped - raising implications for AI safety and ethics.

Use of nicotine pouches has risen substantially in Great Britain over the last five years, particularly among young men, with one in 13 (7.5%) men aged 16 to 24 now using them, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL. The study, published in the journal Lancet Public Health and funded by Cancer Research UK, found that use of pouches overall had increased from 0.1 to 1% of all'adults, equivalent to about 522,000 people.

Six particular depressive symptoms when experienced in midlife predict dementia risk more than two decades later, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. Midlife depression has long been considered a risk factor for dementia in later life. However, new findings published in The Lancet Psychiatry suggest that this relationship is driven by a small cluster of specific symptoms rather than by depression overall.

Astronomers have captured the most detailed images ever taken of a jet launched by a young star, confirming a theoretical model that has remained untested for three decades. Published today in Nature Astronomy , the images reveal a series of delicate, ring-like structures that record decades of violent outbursts during the star's early life.

The H5N1 avian influenza virus - commonly known as bird flu - has been causing outbreaks in dairy cows in the United States since March 2024. Now, scientists studying the adaptation of the avian H5N1 viruses to cows, have found that some of the more recent variants are more able to infect cow cells and tissues than some older variants.

Digital concerns around privacy, online misinformation, and work-life boundaries are highest among highly educated, Western European millennials, finds a new study from researchers at UCL and the University of British Columbia. The research, published in , also found individuals with higher levels of digital literacy are the most affected by these concerns.

Teenagers who are unhappy with their bodies are more likely to develop symptoms of eating disorders and depression in early adulthood, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, believed to be the first of its kind, followed more than 2,000 twins born in England and Wales. It found that higher body dissatisfaction at age 16 predicted greater symptoms of eating disorders and depression well into the twenties, even after taking into account family background and genetics.

What generative AI typically does best - recognise patterns and predict the next step in a sequence - can seem fundamentally at odds with the intangibility of human creativity and imagination. However, Cambridge researchers suggest that AI can be a useful creative partner, as long as there is clear guidance on how ideas should be developed together.

Sophisticated new chemical analysis of gases trapped in rocks for millions of years has cast new light on the origin of the gold deposits beneath Scotland and Ireland. The finding, made by team of scientists led by Professor Fin Stuart from the University of Glasgow, could help pinpoint the location of buried deposits of the treasured metal in the future.

Strongest evidence yet for an atmosphere on a rocky planet outside our solar system - a thick blanket of gases above an ocean of magma. Researchers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have detected the strongest evidence yet for an atmosphere on a rocky planet outside our solar system. Observations of the ultra-hot super-Earth TOI-561 b suggest the exoplanet is surrounded by a thick blanket of gases above a global magma ocean.